Primroses were out.

The remains of a Giant Puffball.

Here's some Wood Anemone.

Dog's Mercury, also family Euphorbia.

I came across Golden Saxifrage.

Tredegar House Park.

Recently I went to Tredegar House Park looking for flora and fungi.I found this growing on a conifer, I think it is a slime mould, not sure what type.At first I presumed it was a rotten egg thrown against the tree.

I saw Sweet Violet.

I was surprised to find Two-Toned Pholiota.

Hoof Fungus

I found this Hoof Fungus in October in a nearby park and I have been observing it ever since.It is growing on a tree stump along with Turkey Tail and there were Stump Puffballs too in the Autumn.A piece of this fungus was found with the 5,300 year old ice mummy discovered in the Alps in 1991,it was part of a fire-starting kit.

Under the covers

Here's another pic of one of my pet rats in the duvet.
Bouncy who is shown here has just been woken by me trying to take a picture of her.

Duck and fungi

this morning I went to beechwood park.

the fungi on the log is lumpy bracket whilst the ducks are mallards.

at times it was pouring down and I was hiding under spruce.

Whilst hiding I found some possible charcoal burner and watched a treecreeper dance up and down trees.

on the way back to the house I popped to a local park, I got some artist bracket

to draw on

the treecreeper

Weston super mare Birnbeck Pier

today I went on the train to weston.

I was heading for sand point in search of a geo cache. 

On the way I passed Birnbeck Pier.

I thought it was amazing.

Altogether I walked over 8 miles, the last mile through marsh.

I FOUND THE CACHE!

This is a fungi I found in Coldra Woods, when I was looking for a Geocache. I dont know what type it is it's not in any of my books, including Roger Phillips guide. There are lots of Fungi growing in Coldra Woods, I recently found the remains of a Giant Puffball, I saw Oyster Mushrooms for the first time there.I have also seen Upright Coral which is quite rare. Coldra Wood is a small wood close to my house, there are lots of different trees there, some of them are very old.Birch,Oak and Beech which are very popular with Fungi, all grow there.

The grey king Cache

I went geocaching today in Allt-yr-yn Nature Reserve.It was a very good cache.
I was lucky to see lots of fungi including; Scarlet Elfcup, Devils Tongue (pictured), Hairy Curtain Crust, Birch Woodwart, Blushing Bracket, lots of Lumpy Bracket, Oyster Mushrooms, Jelly Ear, Common Bonnet, several species of King Alfred's Cakes and Turkey Tail.
There were lots of birds; Great Tits, Long Tailed Tits, Robins and I heard a Woodpecker. I saw a Birch Tree that had grown back on itself
into a perfect circle which was very unusual.

Bouncy

Here's a picture of Bouncy my pet rat looking rather cute.

Shirenewton Woods

On Sunday I went to Shirenewton woods.
I found Turkeytail, Velvet Shank, lots of Jelly Ear, King Alfred's Cakes,Leafy Brain,Birch Polypore, Birch Woodwart,Birch Mazegill,Oyster Mushroom,Variable Oysterling and Scarlet Elfcup (pictured). There was a stream running through the woods with Hazel trees flowering on it's banks, I saw Wild Garlic and Lesser Celandine shoots coming up.Elsewhere in the wood I saw Snowdrops beginning to grow. There were Yew Trees, lots of Birch, a very old Lime Tree and Holly.

Rhoose Point

Today i went to Rhoose Point 

and found a massive ammonite.

You can see my foot beside it.

We also may have discovered dinosaur footprints, 

as other footprints have been found nearby at Bendrick Rocks Sully.

Castell Coch

On boxing day i went to forest fawr next to castell coch .

It was very cold.

I saw a number of fungi including

lacquered bracket, oak mazegill,

dead man's fingers, candle snuff,

birch polypore,

oak curtain  crust and lumpy bracket. 

The Blorenge

 We went to the Blorenge, a hill overlooking Abergavenny. On the opposite side of the valley is Sugar Loaf which i have also climbed. 

During the walk we found lots of fungi including the meadow waxcap and blue edged pink gill. We also  found lots of other fungi however we did not identify them.

Just before we reached the summit of the hill we passed a group of wild horses.

This is a picture of them.

 

I went APE!!!!!!

On my birthday I went to a place called Go Ape, in the Forest of Dean.

Its lots of platforms ropes zip wires and swings high up in the trees.

This is a picture of me on the Tarzan swing. You had to jump off a high platform and swing across into the cargo net. It made my stomach feel funny as you dropped.

The rules of Go Ape are simple.

1. Longy (Longy is the long rope you have attached to yourself) loves the tree.

2. Always attach your clips the opposite way.

3. Enjoy yourselves.

 

Finally whilst in the woods we also found a Giant Funnel fungi. 

These are my Giant African Land Snails, they are called Apple and Cabbage.There are some British Garden Snails in the picture to show how large they are.I got the snails in mid May from Cardiff Museum, when I got them their shells measured 4.5 c.ms but now the biggest one is 8.2c.ms and the smaller one is 6.5c.ms.Their favourite foods are cucumber and lettuce and they love Cuttlefish bones. They eat Cuttlefish bones for the Calcium which keeps their shells growing, they can grow as large as 20c.ms from head to tail.They are from the rainforests in East Africa especially Kenya and Tanzania but mine seem to be living quite happily in their tank.

This is my dog Wag on a very hot day at Goldcliffe, Newport. She is fourteen
years old but she looks much younger.
Wag likes nice long walks and she is always gobbling up titbits which we give to
her.She particularly likes bones, chicken and other types of meat.In fact she likes most things but does not like lettuce. She likes playing ball with me and my Dad and she likes her friend Ozzy the Border Collie.